911: The Media in General-new thread

[Guest guest]

Does anyone out there have those problems when the media calls the comm

center for information? What information do you give them? On the chance

they get ugly with you (gee, it happens) do you have any recourse?

Why..... well, we have a PIO that took over last year that is intolerant of

any media harassment of our CO's. A great example of this was during a

homicide we had 2 weeks ago, a representative from a local affiliate whose

call letters I wont reveal (like a small animal) called for information. When

he was only given the incident location (all we are supposed to give out) he

proceeded to attack the supervisor for more information and was unacceptably

rude (to put it mildly).

As instructed by the PIO when something like this happened, she made a tape

of it and forwarded it to him. He phones the reporters " higher authority "

and plays the tape for him. The next nite, that reported called for that

supervisor and humbly (I mean soooo humbly you could hardly stand it)

apologized for his phone call and assured her that it would never happen

again.

Does anyone else's department defend their CO's in these situations?

I am just curious.

Toni Wyman, (CTO)...Gwinnett County Police, GA (just N of HotLanta)

770 Hi Hope Rd, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

(These are only my opinions, not my agency's, after all they are the

government and they have opinions of their own)

For liability reasons my posts and opinions are to be reprinted with my

permission only.

Email to: E911GAL136@...

[Guest guest]

Nick wrote:

<<On their second call, I fax them a copy of our written procedure.>>

Excellent idea. I think, with my Chief's approval, I will add that to our

SOP re: dealing with the press. I can take the press off the CO's back and I

can take them off of my Chief's back. But the problem then becomes getting

them off MY back. And when things are hopping here, I have other

mission-critical roles to fill. (Like making sure the coffee pot doesn't run

dry! <wink and grin>)

Janet Bettag

LSLPD

Lake Saint Louis, MO

Department email: lspolice@...

Personal email: MsJBettag@...